


Hey! As told by Gems

by OneCoolCat



Series: Hey! As told by Gems [3]
Category: As Told By Ginger, Hey Arnold!, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Coming of Age, Crying, F/M, Gem Powers, Having Dinner Together, Lots of Water, Minor Character Death, Pipes breaking, Pool, Pranks and hi jinks, Senior citizens home, Shapeshifting, Shrimp, Slice of Life, Sushi backpack, This isn't reincarnation, Whirlpool - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-09-30 12:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20447312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneCoolCat/pseuds/OneCoolCat
Summary: Episode 3: Courtney invites herself over for dinner at their house; meanwhile, Seren meets a prankster named Maude and Blanca gets overprotective and tries to break up the dynamic duo.FIRST: I have to say that, I got this idea from reading Reverberations by ThatDastardlyCerberus. You should also check out Three Gems and Four babies.Also, check out Practically-pearlperfect (Madam_Violet) who also had some ideas after reading Reverberations. Little Stars and Reverberation shots.Long story short, this is just a fict on the four diamonds doing stuff. Following after the second to last war, which caused Steven to be separated from his gem, then after the last war that destroyed the Crystal Gems and somehow the diamonds reform into babies, Taffy and her husband, Sterling takes care of the diamonds. Fast forward 14 years later, we see how they're going about with their lives *shrugs* Nothing more. This is just something to read, if you have nothing else to read and you're waiting for your main ficts to come out. Welp, hope y'all like this even at least a teeny tiny bit *thumbs up*





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Paying homage to:  
Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 3:  
Cheeseburger Backpack  
As told by Ginger Season 1 Episode 2: Carl and Maude

"Hey, Mr. Postman, bring me a post." Seren sung as she skipped down the steps, stepping on every other step. "Bring me the post that I love the mooooost." she spun on her heels clumsily and stopped in front of the living room. Nila was in the loveseat and looking through some envelops. Blanca was sitting on the couch, sitting criss cross applesauce and leaning back on the armchair. Seren looked at Nila."Huh? My song came true! Do you have a package for me today? Did the mailman finally bring it?!" she ran to the living room table, leaning on it. 

"Hold on, let me see what we've got here." Nila placed the envelops on the table and pulled the six boxes towards her. She picked up the first box, then the second, then the third, then the fourth. “For Sterling, for Sterling, for Taffy, for Sterling.” Then she picked up the fifth one. "And this one's for you, Seren." 

"Yes!!" She grabbed the package from her. 

"And this one right here is for you Xanthe." She looked up at Xanthe, placing her hand on the box.

"Just leave it there. I'll get it later." Xanthe dipped two square pieces of French toast into some syrup and ate them. 

"I can put it by your door for you." Seren laid her package by Blanca, who was still casually reading her book. 

Seren tempted to lift the package up. "Goodness! What do you have in here? Bricks?" 

"Actually, yes." she dipped three squares into the syrup. 

"What? Who buys bricks?!" 

"I do. It’s for my new workout routine." 

Seren sat down on the couch, her own package in between her and Blanca. "Maybe _I_ should be joining this routine of yours." she mumbled. 

Blanca snorted, not looking up from her book. "So you can have all of that strength and power go to your head like that one over there?" she jammed a thumb out behind her shoulder at Xanthe. "I don't think I could handle TWO Xanthe's in this household."

Seren laughed at the thought. "Two Xanthes." she giggled some more. "Hey, Xanthe, can you even make duplicates of yourself?" 

Xanthe didn't turn around, still eating her food. "Mhm." 

"What! No way!" Seren was shocked.

"Don't believe her, Seren. I've never seen her do it." said Blanca. 

"Just because you haven't seen me do it doesn't mean that I can't."

"Then do it now." Blanca was finally looking up from her book. 

Xanthe scooped a couple spoonfuls of eggs into her mouth. "Don't feel like it." she said between chews. 

"Figures." said Blanca with a small smile on her face. She looked back down at her book and continued reading. 

Seren grabbed the box and set it in her lap, looking at the shipping label. Majority of it was in Japanese. 

"What did you get, Seren?" Nila asked.

Seren started tearing the tape from the box. "It's not for me." she said. "It's for Chi You know, the girl that I met the first day of school?" She tore the last piece of tape. "Buuuuuut, it's not just some _ooordinary_backpack. It's." She lifted the flaps of the box open, lifting the bag up. "A SUSHI bag! You know, because she's from Japan and she told me that her favorite thing to eat is sushi. And look, I even got her the spicy kind." she said all giddy. She held the bookbag up to her face. "Just look at the details of the spices. Look at them chili pepper flakes." she whispered, astounded and running her hand across the back of the bag.

"A..sushi bag?" Nila looked unsure.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Seren lowered the bag back down slowly.

"I mean, it's very cute.. but maybe it's just me but.. Wouldn't you think that getting that would remind her of her home town and make her sad?"

"Yeah, it's just you." said Xanthe.

Nila cut her eye at Xanthe, but the latter didn't see her, her back still facing her. Nila looked back at Seren. "Still, you may want to think about that. You don't want to make her feel homesick."

Seren's expression fell. "Yeah.. I guess you're right.. Maybe I'll give it to someone else or just keep it." she stared at the bag.

Xanthe got up to put her plate in the sink and went to pick up her package.

"You're not going to wash that?" Seren overheard Blanca. 

Xanthe didn't hear her, too busy shaking the box of bricks. "Ooooooh boy. These sound like the good type if bricks too." she smiled sinisterly. "I can't WAIT to try these puppies out!" she went back to her seat at the table, placing the box in the seat in front of her. She leaned back on her elbow on the edge of the table, partially facing her sisters. 

Nila sighed, leaning back in the chair. "And I just can't wait to officially start my community service." she said sadly. 

Seren unzipped the bag, examining the interior. "It shouldn't be that bad."

"But this is also embarrassing! I really can't believe I have community service at Golden Gates. I mean, come ooon. Can it _be_ any less glamorous?"

Blanca looked up from her book again. "It doesn't have to be glamorous, jailbird." she said sternly. "You tried to steal the sign, now you'll have to serve the time. It's as simple as that." 

Xanthe snickered at the kitchen table, earning a chilling glare from Nila. Xanthe looked away, "casually" downing the rest of her orange juice. 

Nila looked back, sighing. Her head held down and her expression falling back to sorrow. "You're right, Blanca.. And at it's _just_ community service.. Still, I don't want to do this. Those senior citizens can be a bit.. pushy.. and a bit.. unnerving, to say the least."

Blanca shrugged. "Nila, you go to a high school in Beach City. Just about everyone in that school is unnerving, so you've got a bit of practice under your belt already. And you only have to stay about, what, 3 or so hours? It shouldn't be that bad for you. Maybe for me or for Xanthe, but for you and Seren? You two have this aura about y'all that attracts people."

Nila gasped. "My aura! I forgot all about it! What if I use it on the old people!"

Blanca facepalmed "No, no, no. That's not what I meant." 

Xanthe snickered.

"You don't have to worry about that." Seren looked at Nila. "Because you won't use it. Those old fuddy duddys will just want a bit of food and a good story to listen to. I can't see you OR them getting upset in aaaany way over those two things." Seren smiled and Nila was beginning to think about it, a smile slowly creeping to her face. 

"Unless of course it's a sad book or someone's food is too cold." Xanthe retorted.

"Oh no! She's right." Nila grabbed at her hair.

Seren and Blanca looked back at Xanthe, the former, looking shocked and the latter, glaring at her.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth."

Blanca made an opening gesture with her hand and an opaque white bubble formed around Xanthe's head. Xanthe started touching around the bubble.

"Don't listen to her." Blanca put the cloth bookmark in the book and placed book on the table, aligning it with the side corner of the table. "That's just Xanthe being.. Xanthe. You'll do great. I just know it. YOU are Nila Ishi!" Blanca gave her a soft smile.

Nila nodded, giving her a slight smile. "I guess so.. Well, I guess I'll start getting ready.. Don't want to be late for my first day of community service after all.." she got up slowly, going to her room.

"She'll do well." Blanca said to Seren, moreso to reassure herself.

"She will." 

Xanthe ran towards them, pointing at the bubble around her head. 

"Hey Xanthe. You got a little something.." Seren pointed her index finger at her face.

Xanthe went after Seren, but Seren hid behind Blanca, chuckling away.

"Yes, Xanthe?" Blanca cocked an eyebrow.

Xanthe started flailing her arms, then pointed back at the bubble.

"Xanthe, if you're saying something, we can't hear you. My bubble's soundproof. Also, we can't even see you." Blanca deadpanned. She started walking away and Xanthe ran in front of her, stopping her. She jumped up and down, flailing her arms once more. 

Blanca tilted her head, a smug look on her face. "My, my.. Well aren't you being overly animated. Relax, it's just a bubble. It'll go away when I feel like making it." Blanca walked away.

Xanthe watched her as she walked away, she stomped her foot in protest.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth." she mocked, walking to her room.

Xanthe turned to Seren. She started backing up as Xanthe got closer to her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa.. AAAHH, she's coming after me! And I didn't even do it!" Seren ran up the steps with Xanthe right on her heels.

..

Nila and Seren were waiting patiently in the lobby. After some time, the receptionist came back to the desk and sat down. Nila got up and approached the table. Seren waved at someone on the other side of the lobby. The lady put a few pens back in the pen cup holder and looked up at her. "Hello, checking in?" 

"No ma'am. I'm only 14... Or uh.. More or less?"

The lady gave her a puzzled look. 

Nila cleared her throat. "Uh, I'm Nila Ishi. I'm here to fulfill my community service sentence." she said softly.

"Oh, yes. The troublemaker."

Nila lowered her head, frowning.

The lady pulled a cabinet out and started sifting through some folders "I've been expecting you." She pulled a thick tan folder out. She licked her thumb and started flipping through the sheets inside it. "You have to fill out a few of these forms." she pulled four papers out of the folder.

"And check this next move out." Seren was saying to one of the residents, an elderly guy in a wheelchair.

"One..Two..Three..Four..Five..And oof!" she was doing cartwheels and the man was clapping away until she crashed into a meal cart. "Uh oh!" he gave a raspy chuckle. "Are you okay?" 

A plate of half eaten spaghetti fell on her side and a cup of orange juice titled over, pouring onto the carpet.

"Pffft, never better." she smiled.

The receptionist and Nila turned around. "WHO is that destroying our stuff?" she got up.

"Sorry ma'am! That's my sister, Seren. My other two sister's were busy today, so I'm watching her."

Seren got up and the spaghetti fell from her shirt. "Eh, not so much as 'watching me', so much as just keeping me company, so I won't be in the house by myself." 

The lady picked the cup up and used a few napkins to pick the spaghetti off the floor, the sauce already staining the bright yellow carpet. "Watching you? How old are you?" she threw the contents in the trash.

"I think technically speaking I'm muuuuch, much younger? 

The receptionist gave her the same puzzled look she gave Nila.

"Yeah, it's uh.. complicated.. Anyway!That's not the reason why. The parental guardians just don't trust me being in the house by myself." she shrugged. "Eh, what can ya say?" 

"A lot of things." the lady mumbled. The guy was still laughing at Seren's antics and the receptionist pushed his wheelchair to the other side of the building down another hall. "Hey! ...Hey!" he was protesting. 

She came back, sitting back at the table. "Be sure to keep her under wraps." she told Nila.

Seren headed to the bathroom.

Nila hesitated, nodding slowly, then stopped, grimacing. "She's not that troublesome." she tried to defend her. She handed the papers to the lady. 

She looked the papers over and put them back in the folder, putting the folder back in the cabinet and closing it. She placed her elbows on the table, her fingers touching. "Now, the only duty you are expected to perform today is to read to the tenants at the library. You'll be reading Stately Home by Roy Park."

"I uh, never heard of it."

"Mhm, well you're too young.. more or less." she mocked. "to know about that story. But it's one of their favorites." 

Nila nodded.

"The book is already in the room and everyone shoulder already be in there."

Nila took a deep breath.

"No need to worry, Ms. Ishi. All you have to do is read and they'll be fine. Some of them will probably even fall asleep before you even go to page two. Now, the library is the last room down that hall." she pointed. 

Nila nodded again. "Okay." she started to walk off. 

"Oh! Hold on a sec." 

Nila turned back around. 

"Since you're going that way, do you think you can go to room number 134 to give Ms. Nelson this? They aren't real, but she won them as a prize. She left before we got to give it to her." she handed Nila the wax fruit basket.

Seren left the bathroom unnoticed by the two. Toilet tissue wrapped around her face, arms and neck. She lounged at the janitor who was walking passed the bathroom "Boo!" 

He yelped, nearly stumbling back.

Seren started giggling. "Got ya good."

"..also want to warn you about one of our residents here in room 202. She's one of our more mischievous community members. And THAT'S putting it lightly." Seren looked over. 

The lady looked back at Seren covered in tissue. The janitor slowly walking past her.

"Not too troublesome, eh? Hmph. Anyway," she turned back to Nila. "The last person who ventured there uninvited was found hogtied in the utility closet with his dentures missing!" 

Seren laughed. "This woman has a sense of humor." she looked around, slinking off to a nearby elevator. 

"Well we'll steer CLEAR of her ma'am! Because like you said, we don't want any trouble."She cut her eye where she thought Seren was still standing. "Isn't that right, Seren?" she said sternly. 

"Oh boy.." Nila said under her breath.

"You just go to your book reading. I'll have someone go get her." she pressed a small button near a microphone. "Mr. Jerry, can you come down to the lobby, please?"

Nila walked down the hall, reading the numbers on the doors. She got to room 134 and knocked on the door. An elderly women with thick gray hair opened it. "Yeah, whatcha want?" she said coarsley. 

"Hello ma'am. This is for you. It's a wax fruit basket. You, won it-"

The lady snatched the basket and grabbed a pear, biting into it. "Um, ma'am? That's just for decoration. That's not for ea-"

"Mind your business! I do what I please!" she took another bite out of the pear and shut the door. 

Nila sighed and turned away from the door, walking down the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seren meets Maude and Courtney invites herself over for dinner.

"Room two.oh.two." Seren annunciated, checking out the numbers on the doors. She stopped in front of the door and knocked on it before slowly turning the handle. A lady was hanging out the window in her bathrobe.

"Excuse me. Are you trying to escape? Because if you are, there should be a safer way." 

The lady turned around. She was holding a plastic glove filled with liquid. "Escape? Ha! No, the ninny from my occupational therapy just left and I'm fixing to give him a proper send off. Shut the door, give me a hand." 

Seren closed the door and walked over to her. She looked out the window. "Oh! Is that him?" she pointed. "Talking on his phone?"

The lady held the plastic glove up and Seren held her elbows. "Steady.. steady now.." the lady said. She dropped the liquid filled glove and cackled. She looked back down. "Whoops. Not him."she walked away.

Seren peered down the window. "Hey! Was that you! Why, I oughtta.. Just you wait until I get up there! I'll-" Seren quickly shut the window and crouched down, laughing. 

She looked up from her crouching position. "So, uh.. You must be Maude." 

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

Seren got up. "Ma'am. Your reputation precedes you." 

"Reputation? As what? A live wire!?"

She walked back to the window, opening it back up. "They ain't lyin'!!!" she shouted. A flock of birds flew off the power line from the noise. 

She started laughing, her laugh soon turning into a gag. Seren rushed to her side. The woman waved her off, clearing her throat. "Mmm, I need a drink." She went to her table and pulled the dentures out of her mouth, placing them in an empty glass cup. She picked up a bottle of soda and poured the contents in the cup, then she took the dentures back out the cup, putting them back in her mouth. She smacked her lips. "Ahhh... cherry." She picked up the cup and faced Seren, waving the cup in the air. "Care for a little soda pop? Or is the presentation too gross for ya?"

"Maude, Maude, Maude. I'll have you know that gross is my middle name." she grabbed the cup. "First name's Seren." she quickly added.

Maude pulled a drawer and took another cup out, filling it up with cherry soda. "Ha, ha! Seren, I think that you and me are going to get along like two peas in a pod." They hit their glasses together. 

..

A little over three hours later, only two out of the twenty people in the room fell asleep. 

"And..that's the end of the story." Nila closed the book and put it in her lap, looking up nervously, hoping that they didn't outright hate it. "Ummm..." the silence lingered on for a few moments.

"That was amazing! Read another book!" said someone in the front row. The crowd agreed, cheering. Nila blushed, " You really liked it?" 

"Yes! We all did! We love your accent."

"Accent?"

"Yes! Where are you originally from? Is that a Scottish accent?"

Nila was about to answer her, but someone from the back interrupted. "Nonsense! That's Irish! I know a County Meath accent when I hear one." 

"County.. what?" Nila asked.

A lady with light purple hair drove towards Nila in her scooter. A round gem on her cheek. "Let me tell you, I've been living for years and years and I've never came across a voice like that." 

"Thanks, I really apprec-"

The lady ran into the desk with her power scooter, a vase tipping over to the side. Nila caught it. "I demand another read!" she ordered.

"Sorry, but, I'm only here for three hours and it's already passed my time.. I really need to get going."

"That doesn't mean anything. You just have to do at _least_ three hours. There's no crime in going over your time." 

"I don't know.. I haven't heard anything like that before." The lady ran into the desk again, harder. Nila caught the vase again. "Sorry ma'am but-."

"Who's with me now? Read! Read! Read! Read!" Everyone started to chime in. Nila sat there, her anxiety levels steadily increasing-.

"People, please!" The receptionist stepped into the room. "STOP harassing her please! You all know better than that!" 

They all protested, the elderly lady driving passed the receptionist and out the door. Nila sighed deeply in relief.

"Terribly sorry about that. The residents here can be a bit.. pushy; nevertheless, they're all good folks, really." she straighted out the desk that the lady ran into. "Come on. Time to fill out the time sheet."

...

Nila sat down in the chair she was in earlier in the lobby. "That was exhausting." she said to herself. She looked around, "Where's Seren?" she looked up at the receptionist. "It turns out that she's in cahoots with Maude, the resident I was telling you about earlier." she reminded her. "And they've been running about in this establishment for a few hours and not ONE of the guards has caught one of them yet." she growled. She went to rummaging through the desk cabinet and Nila heard a faint knock on glass. She turned around to see Seren outside, beckoning her to come out. The lady was getting up and Seren dashed to the nearest tree to hide behind. "Well, uh..Maybe they'll catch them soon.. I'll just be outside getting some fresh air." she dismissed herself, power walking out the door. The receptionist gave her a confused look before going back to what she was doing. She straightened out a few folders she'd gotten from the file cabinet then went to her computer.

..

"Fewf! You just made it out in time!" Seren was relieved.

"Seren, what did you do?" she said nervously.

"No. What did _Maude_ and I do?" she corrected.

"Seren, what did you and that lady do!"

The residents and the caregivers started evacuating the building.

"I helped Maude set off these wicked stink bombs throughout the whole place. Majority of them were time sensitive and the rest of them are waiting ever so patiently for someone to trip it."

"Why would you do something like that! You can get into so much trouble."

"But Maude does it all the time and she never gets in trouble."

"But you're not Maude. And you don't _really_ know if she gets in trouble or not.. Either way, you should really be careful.. I wouldn't want you doing community service like me."

"If it means I would be going to Golden Gates, I definitely wouldn't mind!" 

Nila shook her head. And exhausted smile on her face. "There's just no getting through to you, is there?"

Seren shook her head proudly.

"Maybe some day you'll learn.."

A limousine drove down and a window was rolled down in the back. "Yoohoo~~, Nila. "

The two sisters turned around. "Hey!" Seren shouted. "Hey Courtney." Nila waved to her. 

"Nila, a word if I may?" 

She and Seren exchanged glances and Seren smiled and poked her chin out, a 'go on' gesture with her head. "Looks like she wants to speak to you in private. I'll be right over here." 

"Don't keep me waiting now." she cooed. Nila made her way over to the limo.

"Glad I was able to catch you. So how was community service?" 

"It was okay." then she remembered how the crowd got a bit out of control at the end. "But they truly love their storytime.. A bit too much. They weren't trying to let me leave unless I read them another book." 

Courtney giggled. "Well one could see why. I mean, all they do is watch their soaps, sleep and eat. It's not like anything too exciting happens. So, _that's_ their excitement. Being read to. Also, you do have a really pretty voice. It kinda reminds me of Lisa Hannigan." 

Nila smiled, looking away. "Thanks. And um.. I've never heard of her." 

"Really? Huh, pity. But, anyway, let me get right to what I called you over for. You see." she flipped a piece of her hair covering her gem and tucked it behind her ear. "Pesky strands.. Anyway, you see, since we've been SUCH good friends lately and everything, don't you think it's time that I came over to your house for dinner?" 

"My house?"

"Yeah! Wouldn't that be just great!" she squealed.

"Oh, uh.. I mean you could! Mmm, probably should! We should! What.. umm.." she sputtered, biting her lip.

"Great! Friday at 8 sounds perfect! I'll be giving you a list of my dietary restrictions." She smiled up at her. "Glad we had this little talk. Ta-ta~~."

Nila waved numbly.

Courtney rolled the window up and the limousine drove off.

Courtney held her hand up, looking at her nails. "Momma said it's important to maintain a degree of control over other people's lives." she told Blake. "Remember that and go fetch my nail kit out of my bag for me." she ordered him, handing her bag over to him.

He gave her an annoyed look before going for the bag, unzippening it.

..

Seren ran over towards Nila. "So, what was that all about?"

"Courtney Gripling is coming over our house.. for dinner!" she couldn't believe it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These next two chapters are of Seren and Maude playing pranks on people.

"Seren, what's with the toilet paper ensemble?" Blanca was sitting in the loveseat, watching the news. She put the weather man on mute. 

"Oh you know.. Gotta have fun with the old folks and entertain them somehow."

"And not scaring anyone."

"Psssshht, of cooourse not."

Blanca looked at Nila. "So, how was it?" 

"Not _as_ scary as I thought. But note to self, don't have an accent or else people will gush all over you and not want you to leave."

Blanca gave her an inquisitive look. "Is that.. some kind of inside joke?"

Nila took her shoes off and placed them by Seren's carelessly thrown shoes. "Something like that." She fixed the shoes and slouched down on the couch. 

"Well while Nila there was getting close with the residents _I_ found like, the most COOLEST senior ever! Her name is Maude and get this.. She has a plastic HIP! Not a metal one!" She started taking the toilet paper off of her arms. "How cool is that?!"

"It's... Different?" Blanca was unamused.

"I guess she has an easier time going through security. So I guess that's cool in itself." Nila shrugged.

"Indeed it is." she stuffed the tissue in her pocket and started taking off the tissue from her face. "We're planning on hanging out again tomorrow when you go to your community service." Seren smiled. "I wonder what we're going to do next." She clasped her hands. 

"Hopefully nothing too bad. Or illeGAL." Blanca put emphasis on the last syllable.

"No way. Maude's not like that. Just a few pranks, is all." 

"Well, I don't know her.. And these hi jinks might go way out of hand."

"Pffft, Blanca, it's elementary at best. No need to worry."

"It wouldn't hurt to be a bit careful though. I had to learn that lesson out the hard way on being careful with people and trusting them too easily.. _I_ have the community service to prove it." said Nila.

"Okaayy, okaaayy. I'll try to keep a close eye on our oh-so-terrible hijinks." she went up the stairs.

Blanca and Nila exchanged worried glances.

.......

"Ready for prank number 2?" Maude asked at the entrance of the laundry room. 

"Ready." 

"Okay. Now." Maude unzipped the sushi bag Seren had brought with her and held up a red, marble-sized shaped ball. "We will be putting these little buggers into every washing machine in here. I just hope that nobody is washing any whites today." she winked. 

Seren thought about, then smiled."We're going to tie dye them!" 

"I guess you can say that, sure" she chuckled. "Okay, come with me. It'll be educational!" she hacked. 

They lifted up every lid and quickly placed the circles inside of the washing machines before putting the lids back down.

"What about the ones that aren't being used yet?" Seren asked, peering into one of the empty ones.

"Seren, you're a genius! I almost didn't think of that!"

"What did I say?"

Maude plucked the red ball into the machine. "We'll throw these in the empty ones as well, for the next potential victims!"

Seren followed along, placing the rest of them in the empty washing machines. "So, are we going to see how the shirts will look?"

"Be patient, one young. Come, let us check on how our first prank is doing."

They heard a scream from upstairs. Maude looked up at the ceiling. "Looks like she found them." She jogged out of the room. Seren zippened her bag up and ran after her. 

....

"Another book! Another book! Another book!" the crowd was cheering from behind Nila as she walked out the library, as once again, the receptionist lady had to come to her rescue and escort her out. Nila took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. 

She signed a few papers for that day and sat in the lobby. A lady was trying to move fast with her cane. "Help! Shrimps! Everywhere in my room!" she yelled. 

The receptionist got up and Nila turned her head. "Maude.." "Seren.." they grumbled under their breath.

The duo ran out of the elevator. "There you two go!" said the receptionist. "This was your doing, wasn't it!"

"She said she liked seafood." said Maude. 

"So we thought of this idea of bringing her some fresh ones STRAIGHT from the sea!" Seren added.

"They are EVERYWHERE! I didn't ask for them to do this!" she shouted. "I need them OUT of my room!" 

Maude and Seren were trying to hold in their laugh.

"We have to save them!" Nila jumped up. "Where's your room?!"

"135!"

Nila ran down the hall towards her room. 

The receptionist followed her. 

"What's with the blue one?" Maude asked Seren. 

"Oh, that's just how she is with marine life."

...

Hundreds of small shrimp crawled all around the room and over top of each other. "How were you two even able to get all of these in here?!" Nila looked around the room. 

"Maude is a hybrid. She's part Pearl." said Seren.

Maude waved her hand. A yellow pearl was in the palm of her hand.

"She put them ALL in her GEM." Seren sounded astounded. "Yeah, it was hard catching all of those shrimp and putting them in there, but we did it!" Seren went for a high five and Maude returned it. 

"Well then you two can help put them _ back."_ She glared at them.

"I just hope that they can capture all of them-UUUAAAAHH!!!" a shrimp was crawling on the senior's shoulders and she smacked it. Nila quickly caught it before it hit the floor. 

"They are SO gross." the lady squealed. 

"I think they're pretty cute." Nila pet the shrimp on its back with her finger. "PLEASE" the lady pleaded. "Just.. get them out of my room. I can't stand to just see them crawling around." she shivered. Nila went over to Maude and she opened her palm. In a flash of light, the shrimp was back in her palm. "I do hope you have water in there." 

"Yeah, there's still water in there from another prank."

Nila gave her an uneasy look. 

"There's just so many of them. They're even swimming in the toilet and they're ALL on the shower curtain!" the receptionist exited out the bathroom.

Nila placed two handfuls of shrimp in her shirt. "We could be here for awhile." she brought the shrimp over to Maude, then went into the bathroom to retrieve more. 

Seren thought of an idea. She dropped some shrimp in the palm of Maude's hand. "Maybe we can use.." and unzipped her bag. "Whoooosh, whhmmmm, wwhhhhhsshhh, pwing, pwing,pwing,pwing,pwing!" she was holding three cans of tuna. She popped the three cans open and placed them on the floor. The shrimp started crawling towards the bait. The receptionist looked in awe. "How did you know that would work?"

"Well, if I were a shrimp, that's what I would do." she zipped the bag back up and threw it over her shoulder. 

Maude cackled. "You _are_ a shrimp."

Nila was carrying a handful of shrimp in each hand and some were crawling on her arms and shoulders. She looked at the shrimp crawling their way to the tuna. "Who bought tuna? That was a smart idea."

"I did." Seren glowed. "I originally bought it for this cat I saw yesterday, but this seemed like a better use of the tuna." she handed Maude some more shrimp. 

Nila handed Maude the shrimps in her hands and started to pick the ones from her shirt. "Then this should actually take a much shorter time than I thought."

There was a yell from downstairs and then a "Someone has sabatoged my white shirts!!!"

Nila and the receptionist looked at the two culprits.

"Buuusteeeed." Maude snickered to Seren.


	4. Chapter 4

.....

Seren was bored in her third period class, balancing a pencil on her lip as she half listened to the teacher. The innacom came on for Seren to come to the office and to bring her things. "Oooooooooooo"'s cascaded the classroom as Seren gathered her things.

There was a young lady who looked quite familiar, standing in front of the principal. "Sorry for taking you out of class, Miss Ishi, but your aunt needed to take you out of school for a couple of hours for a.. water related emergency?"she stared at the lady. The lady nodded back. "Yes, Seren and I won't be long. We'll be back as FAST as we can." Seren recognized the voice. 

They left the principal's office and Seren waited until they were a few doors down from the office. "I didn't know you could shapeshift." 

"Didn't know that I could shapeshift, in general or didn't know I could _still_ shapeshift despite of my age?"

"Umm.. both really?" 

Maude laughed. "I may be a bit old, but I'm still a gem. And I STILL got it!"

They left out a side door in the school. "So, how did you even find me?"

"Took a peak at your sister's papers. Got her last name and took a quick peak at the name of your school and looked your school up." she whispered, chuckling. "Then I shapeshifted and got you out of there to have a bit of pranking fun at the pool."

"Ooooohh. 'Water related emergency'." Seren caught on to it. "So, what's this "emergency"."

They made their way down to the pool area. Maude shook her head, a mischievous grin on her face. "No. We're going to _start_ the emergency."

Seren stopped at the doors. "Mmm, I don't know about this one, Maude. This prank has the word 'emergency' in it?"

Maude turned around. Her smile big as day. "This isn't a _real_ emergency, perse. All we're going to do is spin a few people around in the pool. It's a fake emergency. They think that it's something wrong, but it's really just a fun ride." She opened the door, waiting for Seren's response.

Seren smiled back. "That makes sense." she followed Maude inside.

"So, when are you going to shapeshift? You're not really going to stay like that. You need to be incognito."

"I, uh, can't shapeshift."

"No kidding? I thought you were an era one gem." 

"I..Guess not?"

"Well that's fine too, I guess." She stopped by the pool doors. "Maybe no one will see you." She opened the doors and went for the nearest stack of foam noodles. "We can hide behind here."

Maude readjusted a few noodles, so the stack could be higher. "So, what kind of power do you have? Water manipulation? Air manipulation? Summoning a weapon? Not asking for a couple of someone's fries at the drive thru?"

"Not really. I mean, I summoned my shield once, but that's it. And that was almost a month and a half ago." 

"And you still can't summon it?"

Seren shook her head, downtrodden..hopeless.

Maude tilted her head, smiling softly at her. A face Seren never seen her make before. 

She ruffled the curls on her head. "Ehh, dont you worry. When the situation calls for it, you'll summon your weapon. And it'll leave a huge impact in your life."

"You say that like you're so sure."

"No. I say that like I've been through the same thing before." Her smile deepened.

Seren looked at her in shock then lounged at her, giving her a quick hug. She pulled back. "Sorry! I, uh.. Needed that." she turned away. Maude chuckled warmly. 

"So." Seren tried to draw the attention away from the random hug. "How are we going to turn this pool into a spin cycle?"

Maude went back to her usual smug Maude look. "Hey, you wanna hear something neat?" she leaned in, whispering.

"What." Seren whispered.

When I was checking out your school, I also stumbled upon its history."

"Yeaaahh! Aaaand?" Seren was on the edge of her seat.

"And some parts of this school used to be an ancient ruin. They just build over top of it and added more buildings to it."

"What?! No way!"

"Yeah!" she looked at the pool. "And this pool was actually made as a vortex to pull in, like a gravitational pull, at the same time, sustaining a whirlpool. This was made to capture trespassers. The pool pulls everything that comes close to it and it stays on a never-ending whirlpool, until the guards turn it off."

"Then I guess it's not _truly_ never-ending." Seren joked.

"Yeah, that's the same thing that I said. Anywho, I chose this very spot, not only to hide, but behind us lies the mechanism that operates the pool."

"You think it still works?"

"That's why we're going to test it out and see." she gave a sinister smile. She turned around and put her ears to the cold, smooth surface of the wall, tapping on it until she heard that hollow sound. "I think this is it." she could barely contain her giddiness. "Hey, you have anything in there that could jimmy this tile?"

"Uhh.." Seren unzipped her backpack and started rummaging through it. "No.. I mean, I have this ruler, but it might break." she held the twelve inch ruler in her hand.

"Neh, that won't do. That flimsy thing'll break." 

Maude hummed in thought. "You know, I might just have something in here that could work." she opened her palm and in a flash of light, she summoned a few things,"Nope, nope, nope not that." A muffler, a rolling pin and a rolling chair. Then she summoned another thing. A small shrimp fell with a splash onto the floor. "Oh, whoops! Guess there _was_ still one in there.. Don't tell Nila about that, yeah?" She placed the shrimp back in her palm and summoned another item. "Ah, HERE we go now." It was a crowbar. Maude put everything back in her pearl and tucked the crowbar into the tile. She pulled back and Seren helped her. They pulled back together until the tile flew open. Bits of dust and bits of tile flew into the air. They wiped their face, spitting and blowing the debris away from their face. "There it go, Seren." Maude said in a behold, kind of manner. Inside was two simple black levers. Assumably, one for the vortex and the other, for the whirlpool. Above the levers was something scribbled above them.

"The heck is that? Some kind of writing?"

"It says.. this one." she pointed at the first lever. "Is for the vortex. And this one." she pointed at the other one. "Is for the whirlpool."

"You actually know what that says?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of language is that?"

"An.. ancient kind? I don't know. I just know what it says for some reason." 

"Well, since we've deciphered this, how about we try and get this baby going?" she pulled down the whirlpool lever and they turned back to look at the pool. Nothing happened. "Maybe it doesn't work." said Seren.

"Now, now. Let's just give it some time."

They stared at the pool. There was a tiny spiral in the middle of it that went unnoticed by them. "Yeah, maybe it doesn't work.. Let's try out the next one!" she cackled. She pulled the other lever. Nothing happened. "Pffft, a bunch of junk." Maude was about to push the first lever back up, but heard a faint, dragging sound by the pool. They turned back around again to see a bigger swirl spinning in the middle of the pool. An errant beach ball sliding across the pool tiles was the source of the noise. It fell into the pool and started to spin slowly with the slow spinning spiral.

"Whoaaa.. It works! It. Actually. Works!" Seren cheered.

"Ohhhh.. this is gonna be good."

A few minutes later and the pool was one big swirling whirlpool. "Looks like it's just about at full speed. I wonder how the vortex is holding up?" Maude threw a foam noodle towards the pool and the vortex quickly snapped it into the pool. The beach ball and the foam noodle swirling rapidly with each other. 

"Yeaheaah, baby. We're in business!"

There was the sound of teens not too far from the pool doors. "Wha oh. Let's turn these off." Maude pushed the levers back up and closed the tile, leaving just a crack. The whirls in the pool subsided and a few moments later, the teens came walking in. 

"Is that beach ball and foam finger moving all on their own?" asked Harold.

"Ooooo, maybe the pool is haaaaunteeeeed." said a slim guy.

"Quit it, Stinky! Or I'll pound you!"

"Ah, and here comes are targets now." Maude crouched down.

The teacher gave a huddle as he explained the rules of the race. Then everyone was split into three groups. A, B and C. Group A was up first. There was a whistle from the teacher and ten teens jumped into the pool. 

"Now let's have our fun." Maude turned her body to the side, her eyes still on everyone and the pool, not wanting to get caught. She pulled the first lever down and the pool started whirling. The teens started screaming as they whirled around the pool. 

"Hey!" the teacher barked. "What is the meaning of this! Who's doing this?!" He looked at his students. They all shook their heads. "Kacey?! Kevin?! Pam?!" he looked at the three students who could move water. They held their hands up in a placating gesture, claiming that it wasn't them. 

Seren pulled the lever down and the pool stopped.

"What the heck was that?" asked one kid in the pool.

I'm telling you guys. This pool. Is haunted." said Stinky. 

"No it isn't! Don't say that! That's it, I'm getting out of the pool. You guys are freaking me out."

Seren pulled the second lever and threw a foam noodle. The vortex pulled it in, whacking Harold in the back of his head. "OOOwwww." he rubbed his head, looking at Stinky and the other kid. "Who was it?! Stinky?! Sid?!"

"Neither of us! See, the foam finger is still in the pool with the beach ball." said Sid.

Harold looked at the two floating objects in the pool, then back at the foam noodle that was thrown at him. He turned to the teacher. "Mr. Jerry, what's going on?!" he was spooked.

The teacher looked worried. "I'm not sure. Come on, everyone. Out of the pool."

They tried to, but couldn't. The vortex immediately working every time they would try to lift themselves up from the ledge of the pool. "We can't!" Harold yelled.

"Oh no! We're going to be stuck in here!" yelled Sid. 

"This REALLy bites!" Stinky yelled.

"Mr. Jerry, what are we going to do?!" yelled another teen.

Seren tried to hold in her laughter. She pulled the first lever and the pool started back up. "Oh! It's happening again! Whaaaaaa!!!" Harold and the rest of the nine teens tried to hold on, but the whirlpool was too strong, pulling them in.

The teens started screaming again.

"Don't worry, there must be a way to stop this!" the teacher was moving his hands, trying to manipulate the water. He walked closer and closer to the pool, the water stayed in a spiral. He took another step, using all of his strength to stop the water from moving. Then he felt a gravitational pull. "Whoa.. Whoa, whoa whoa!" he lost his balance as the pool started pulling him in. The students looked on in horror. "AAAAHHHHH!" the teacher was dragged into the pool and was whirling around with the students.

The other students stepped back, not wanting to get sucked in as they watched their teacher and their classmates spin around and around in the pool. Maude and Seren was snorting as they tried to hold in their laughter. 

This went on for a full minute before another student suggested someone to go look for the principal or someone in the office. One person left and everyone else stayed to watch the spin cycle.

Seren was trying to calm herself down from her laughter. "Okay, okay.." she held her stomach. She looked up at Maude. "Think they had enough yet?"

"Meh, I think they could go on for another ten minutes."

"Oh, come on. Let's stop this. They definitely had enough." Seren chuckled.

"I want my mommy!!!" Sid wailed.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna hurl!"

The pool stopped spinning.

"Oh! That was close." Harold was holding his stomach.

"Try to get out again!" someone yelled out. They all swam quickly to the edge and lifted themselves up. They ran, some slipping and falling as they tried to get far away from the pool. "Okay! The pool is OFFICIALLY off limits until further investigation has been done!" yelled the teacher. "Everyone! Everyone out! Come on, let's go!" he ushered the students out of the doors. 

Maude and Seren broke out in laughter. "That was priceless!" Maude laughed in between her cackles.

"Yeah! That was hilarious!" Seren squealed. She sat up, having fallen down earlier from the fits of laughter. "Wow, Maude. You sure have the best pranks.

"Yeah, well. When you live this long, you get better and more creative with 'em."

Their fits of laughter finally started to die down. "Now let's get out of here, before that one student comes back." Maude put the crowbar back in her gem, slammed the tile shut and got up.

Seren slung her bag over her shoulder and followed her out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blanca has finally had enough of Seren and Maude's shenanigans.  
Nila finally tells Taffy about the dinner arrangement with Courtney Gripling.

"They were saying something about "hauntings" or something like that.. Can you believe that? It was probably just some air pressure or vent error in the pool or something." Blanca was telling Nila about her gym teacher cancelling the pool session. They were in the dining room getting the dishes set up as Taffy was putting the finishing touches on the food in the kitchen. 

Nila laughed. "Haunted?" She set a few plates down on the table.

There was a knock at the door and someone walked passed the dining room.

"Exactly! And you should've seen the look on the teacher's face. He was spooked. Barely talked during the whole class." Blanca was straightening out the utensils. 

Seren was laughing away at their conversation. She was leaning on the wall. Nila set the last plate on the table. "Why are you so belly up in laughter?" 

"How can't I be? You two are funny. Alsooooo.. it was really Maude and I who-" 

"Nila, there's a letter for you! Her Butler just left. It's from Courtney Gripling." Then a beat later. "Looks fancy." Taffy was heard shutting the door.

"Courtney?" Nila started walking out the dining room. "How does she even know my address?" she mumbled to herself.

Seren watched her as she walked by.

"You and Maude did what?"

Seren looked at Blanca. Her arms was folded and her eyes narrowed on Seren. Her blunt question made Seren just a tad bit caught of guard. "OH! Uh, it was us. The reason why people think the pool is haunted now."

"What do you mean?" Blanca's face looked even more mad.

Seren scratched her stomach, looking away. "Well, uh, you see.." She looked up. "The school is actually an ANCIENT gem place! Or _was_ an ancient gem place.. and only a part of it was. The rest of it has been added on-Anyway!" she cut her own self off. "We. Found. These levers. That summoned these vortexes and these whirlpools!"

"So you two thought it was funny. To scare those people?"

"Well, yeah. We thought it was pretty funny."

"No one else thought it was funny."

"But it was only a little prank. It was just a fake emergency. If people didn't think it was haunted, they would've instead, been psyched about it and they would've had a great time thinking that it was a ride!" she tried to defend her and Maude's hijinks.

"Seren." She pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed. "You and her prank could very well lead to a full on investigation NOT just with the pool, but with the WHOLE school, in general." 

"_Maybe_ that will happen or _maybe_ it'll all just." she opened her hand "blow over."

"Look at you, Seren. Look at how you're talking! You know, you've changed since you've met her."

"What are you talking about? I've only met her a few days ago."

"That's all it takes, Seren!"

Seren was quiet. Just looking at Blanca with sad eyes.

Blanca clapped her hands together, sighing into them. She made a BOI hand gesture. "Seren." she said softly. "You are what I may call, impressionable. Gullible, if you will." 

"That has already been established many times throughout my life.."

"And you, are my sister... You have to look at it from my perspective for once and why I try to take it upon myself to protect you and to be your voice of reason.. To bring you back down from your little world. This, Maude person, doesn't seem to be thinking too much about her actions. Her mind set, those pranks, those hijinks. It's not tolerable and right. And I don't want her to taint you."

Seren looked at her in shock. "We've only been doing pranks.. Just like how Xanthe and I do pranks ALL the time." she reminded Blanca. 

"You and Xanthe's pranks are different. They don't go too far overboard like you and Maude's pranks!" 

"Maude's not some criminal master mind!" Seren looked down. "I.. know you just see it in your best interest.. but, Maude really is a cool person. She practically RULES Golden Gates and she's just great at being funny and creative and nice. And... I feel like I can be my cooky self around her and not worry about her judging me, unlike other people."

Blanca's face dropped and she looked a bit shocked. 

Seren continued. "Just wait." she said. A small smile on her face. "You're going to be as crazy over Maude as I am! You just have to give her a chance."

Blanca gave a deep breath and started walking out the room. "I.. may give her a small chance."

Seren kicked her foot, holding her arm as she shrunk onto herself. "You.. don't have to live in your own memories, Blanca.." she said as softly and as gentle as she could. "What you've heard or seen is the past." Blanca stopped right at the edge of the dining room.

"and.. you shouldn't worry yourself about it becoming a reality. You don't have to worry about me becoming some unruly gem or worry about guarding me and looking after me."

Blanca didn't look at her, her eyes wavering from the side. "It's not that simple, Seren. You don't understand." she walked out.

....

Taffy looked up from the paper. "This girl definitely has a rich palette." she gave Nila back the paper. "And why didn't you say anything about the dinner arrangement? When were you going to tell me, the day of?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"I.. wasn't sure if I was really going to go through with it at first." Nila picked up one of the food dishes.

"I can't say I blame you. Isn't Courtney Gripling the one who framed you at that beach slumber party?"

"No, that was Miranda. Courtney had absolutely nothing to do with it." 

"Mhmm.. So what are you trying to ask me now?" Taffy gave her a look.

Nila sighed, smiling. "Come on, Taffy. I guess she's pretty serious about this. Please say it's okay if she come!" 

"Hmmm." Taffy thought. "Perhaps I can rearrange a few things for this dinner."

"And please say you're going to make your famous spinach quiche!"

"Frankly, Nila, I wouldn't dream of serving anything less."

"Thanks Taffy! You're the best!" she walked out the kitchen with the dish.

"Would you mind putting that in writing?" she joked.

Seren walked into the kitchen, passing Nila. "Hey, Taffy?"

"Yes, Seren?"

"I would like to have my friend over, if it pleases the committee. I want everyone to officially meet her!"

"Hm, well it's about time we officially meet her." Taffy handed Seren two dishes.

"So it's okay!"

"I don't see why not."

"Great! Y'all are going to love her!"

.....

Seren had made a little stop at Golden Gates from school, taking the public transit. She and Maude were at the back of the building. The seniors were relaxing; reading a book, feeding the birds and sitting down content in their wheelchairs, as they got some fresh air.

Maude looked around with her hands in her pockets. She got an idea. "Hey, Seren. Wanna do one more prank?" 

"Maude, you do know me, right?"

Maude chuckled and shape shifted into a tiger. She growled, then coughed, hacking for a few moments. "Mm, that wasn't a very convincing growl." She tried growling a few more times. "Mhm, mhm, yeah, that'll work. Okay Seren." she looked up at her. "Ready to give these people a fright?" she smiled, her sharp teeth showing.

Seren laughed "Definitely."

"Then you better start running!" she growled. Seren ran down the lawn, as she did a theatrical scream. Maude's growl turned into a hack again, before she was able to compose herself again. She started running.

The seniors looked around, wondering what the commotion was. They saw a tiger running after a teen. They all tried to get up and flee, their screams and hollers heard from the lobby. Some of the seniors jumped into the water, some tried to run away with their canes or walkers, some tried to fly and only flying a few inches above the ground. The pursuit continued with Maude running close after Seren, Seren putting on a very convincing play. The chase went on as they ran between people and lawn chairs until Maude started getting tired. She started to slow down. "Okay.. okay.." she panted. "This tiger needs a breather." 

"Seren!" Seren heard Blanca shout from the patio door on the side of the building. Seren stopped. "What are you doing here?" Maude was heard hacking in the background as she walked slowly towards Seren. She laid down with a thumb, right by her. "Woo boy. That was exhausting." she seen everyone scattered about. Some of the seniors had gotten stuck in the lawn ornaments. "But totally worth it." she cackled.

"I'm here to get YOU." Blanca pointed.

"But I'm fine."

"You're not! You ditched the bus ride home and it's been two hours already with Taffy asking about you and you just went back here instead to do this.. juvenile and insensitive type of prank." 

"So we put on a little play for the residents..It wasn't that bad." 

"You could've seriously.. They could've!" she gave an exasperated sigh. "How are you not seeing how bad these pranks are? They're going too way out of hand."

"Because no one has gotten harmed by these pranks."

"Because no one has gotten-" she gave a humorless chuckle. "Oh, this is rich, Seren. Really, really rich." 

"Hey, toots. I've been doing pranks for years and years and they're practically harm-proof." Maude looked like she was trying to make a smug face, but with her tiger form, it was hard to tell.

Blanca scowled a the lady still laying on the ground. "You. Are not taking my sister down the same path you are on." she hissed.

"Ooo! This sister has a bit of bite to her."

"Blanca, stop! Come on, let's just go, alright? Maude and I are done, let's just go." Seren looked agitated, trudging away.

"Miss party pooper over here." Maude grumbled, smiling.

Blanca shot her another glare before meeting up with Seren.

The bus ride home was painfully quiet and tense.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is getting ready for dinner.

....

The next day, after school, Seren and Xanthe was helping Nila "cool-ify" her room. 

"And for the finishing touches. Xanthe, hit the lights." said Nila 

Xanthe shut the light switch off and three lights from the wall sockets turned on. White, yellow, blue and pink circular lights danced around the room. "There. I pronounce this bedroom a virtual den of coooooolness." said Seren. Xanthe flipped the switch again to turn them off.

"Thanks again for letting me burrow your lights, Seren.

"Eh, it's no problem."

The sisters made their way towards Nila's door. "Do you think I should hide my seashell collection?" Nila asked as she walked out.

.......

Courtney was getting ready. She was in front of the mirror, looking at her outfit. "What do you think of this top, Miranda? I'm looking for something that says, I don't want to _look_ like I'm better than you, but, kind of am. What do you think?" 

Miranda was laying down on Courtney's bed, flipping through a magazine. "Her room is probably just filled with lame, fish plushies or different clam or seashell collections.. She probably has marine life night lights too."

Courtney got up, turning to Miranda. "Miranda, I'm talking to you. They'll be plenty of time to talk to yourself while I'm at my dinner arrangement. What do you think of my top?"

"It's perfect, Courtney. Really. Just the riiiight shade of green.

....

"Okay, let's move onto the living room." said Nila. She, Seren and Xanthe looked around the room. A picture of Taffy on Homeworld, a picture of Sterling in a cap and gown and various other pictures, including "embarrassing" photos of the sisters aligned on the shelf, above the t.v.

"Strike the potty shot, for sure." said Xanthe. Seren picked up the photo of Nila and placed it underneath one of the cushions of the couch. "Check."

"And the spaghetti stain." said Seren.

"What spaghetti sta-, how did that happen?" Xanthe saw the rust colored stain a few inches from the couch. 

"Earlier. Warmed up some left overs this morning and I ended up dropping the plate." 

Nila sighed. "Of course you did. And today of all days. Okay, let's just move the couch over it."

Seren stepped away as Nila and Xanthe moved the couch towards her, covering up the stain. "Check." said Seren. "There, totally and utterly acceptable." she gave a thumbs up.

"Okay, I'm going to check and see if Taffy needs any help setting up." Nila made her way to the dining room.

"Okay, you do that." Seren turned to Xanthe. "Welp, I gotta go. Gotta get ready for tonight." she ran upstairs.

Xanthe shrugged. "Might as well do the same too before that Gripling character comes." she walked up to her room.

Nila was setting the last plate down. "Thanks for setting up." Taffy walked in. "But we're one plate short." she went to the cabinet, taking out a plate and some eating utensils."

"Wha?" 

"I said 'we're one plate short.'" she placed the plate and the utensils on the table. "Seren got company coming too. Didn't I tell ya? We're finally meeting that little friend of hers from high school. Isn't that sweet."

"Sweet?! Are we talking about the same girl that Seren met on the first day?! The one that has bad blood with Courtney?! Oh, this is going to be sooo bad." 

"I was uninformed about their history. BUT, it's too late now. Everyone is on their way." she straighten out the cloth on the table. "And I am NOT going to tolerate any of that bickering nonsense at my table. I've already invited the two and I'll see to it that things won't fly off the handle." 

There was a buzz sound from the doorbell. "...I got it." Nila left the dining room, taking her time getting to the front door. "Oh, I really hope that things don't escalate between the two. Hopefully they can bare with each other for just a couple hours.. And who knows, maybe she has an early curfew." Nila opened the door to see Maude. Her jaw dropped. _What is she doing here?! She.. can't be the one Seren was talking about..?_ The motorcyclist honked his horn and she waved back to him. He drove off and she turned back around. "Heya!" she shouted. Nila was still shocked.

"Nila right? But I know Seren calls you Niley Wiley!" she laughed, scratching her knee. She kept going. "Yeah, I left my dentures back on the bed, but Seren says that your guardian's making some spinach quiche, so I figured I'd just go commando!" She cackled. "That shouldn't be bad for these babies." she showed Nila her four teeth. One in the front, two in the back, right side and one bottom tooth.

Nila scrunched up her face, backing up. Maude found the look priceless, laughing, which turned into coughing, that soon turned into hacking.

"You whooo~~~, Nila!" 

She looked up. The limo was parked and the Butler and Courtney were out of the car.

Maude was still hacking away. 

"Sorry! I'm fashionably late!" she called from the sidewalk.

Maude walked passed a still bewildered and nervous Nila, hacking and clearing her throat at the end as she entered the house.

Nila sighed. "This, is my life." she mumbled to herself. She let Courtney pass and closed the door.

"Hmm. Not too shabby." Courtney took her sweeter off and folded it over her arm.

"Thanks. Um.. Taffy is almost done with the food. You can sit in the living room, if you want." she suggested.

"Oooo, so I get to check out your living room. How amazing." she cheered. Nila showed her to the living room and they both sat down on the couch. Maude was looking at the pictures above the t.v. She stopped at a photo with Taffy and Sterling holding hands and smiling, not paying attention to the camera and lost in the moment. Maude turned to the girls, pointing at the photo. "Oh, this? This is beautiful." 

"Oh..Thanks?"

Maude sat down next to them on the couch. There was a crack. "Whoops! Did I brake something?" she looked down

Nila went wide-eyed. "Oh no, it's nothing! That's just the cushions! The cushions are just.. crunchy."

Maude lifted the seat cushion, sliding the embarrassing picture of Nila on the pot. She held the picture up. "Ooooohhh, look at the precious little face! She makin' a winkle."

Nila burried her face in her hands, not looking at Courtney, until she spoke up. "Nila? I'd LOVE to have a walking tour of the rest of your house."

Nila perked up quickly. "Great! Perfect idea! Let's go!" she jumped up and grabbed Courtney's wrist.

"Eh, don't worry about me." Maude laid back on the couch. "I'll be just fine with my lonesome." she said casually.

Nila and Courtney started walking away and Maude looked back, "You know it's a tad stuffy in here."

"Maybe some fresh air?" Nila opened the window and quickly left the room with Courtney.

"Grandma Ishi is a REAL cutup!" Courtney laughed as they walked up the stairs.

"Oh, she's not my-"

"Is it okay if I lose my shoes, since the window's open!?" Maude shouted from the living room. "See, I got a blistering bunyun the size of Detroit, sister and" she took a deep breath. "it needs ta breaaaaaaathe." she raised her foot up, wiggling her toes. 

Nila turned around. "Shall we?" 

They continued their walk up the stairs as Seren was leaving the room. "Evening ladies." she said casually. She eased her way on pass them and down the stairs. 

Nila opened the door. "So.. This is my room." 

"This is precious!" she took her phone out and took a picture. "Very retro." she walked to the middle of the room. "It's lived-in, yet tidy. Lot's of blue." she took a couple more photos, one being two magazines. She threw them back down on the bed and Nila aligned them. She walked away "And the walls are adorned!" she traced her fingers over the print. "And the sea shell motif. Priceless." she whispered. she took a picture.

Nila smiled at the compliment.

Courtney went to her closet and opened it. She put on her flash, taking two photos. "Oh! And what is this? A robot?"

"No, Courtney. That's a vacuum cleaner. It's used for cleaning."

Courtney gasped. "Fascinating." she took a picture of the vacuum cleaner. "Nila there's SO much you can teach me."

....

The food was almost done in the oven and Taffy decided to take that time to sit down and have a quick chat with Seren's friend, not knowing that it wasn't the girl she was talking about from school. She sat down on the loveseat, hiding her confusion behind a smile. "So, how long have you two been.." _friends?_

"Partners in crime?!" Maude cut in.

"Since the fateful day I strolled into the home." said Seren, blissfully.

Maude changed the subject, curious. "So Taffy. You interested in grandchildren?" Maude pulled a wallet out of her skirt pocket.

That caught Taffy of guard.

"What! Like any of us would have children any time soon, IF at all." Seren chuckled.

Taffy looked at Seren. _No, she doesn't need to know yet._ She sputtered before stringing together a few words. She got up "Whoa! I, I have to see a man about some spinach quiche. Excuse me." she ran into the kitchen.

"I was just going to show her some pictures of mine. Eh." she shrugged it off and put the wallet back in her skirt.

Xanthe walked into the living room and stopped, cocking an eyebrow at Maude, then looking back at Seren. She didn't say anything and turn her direction, going the opposite way from them. "Hey, Sparky! Where you goin'!"

Xanthe grimaced, turning around slowly.

"Yeah you! Come here! Seren has told me SO much about you. You can make electricity right?"

Xanthe stood her ground, nodding at the odd lady.

"Wanna learn a neat trick? A saw a lemon quartz do it countless times." 

Xanthe eased up. _A neat trick with my electricity?_"Yeah, sure."

...

"..Yeah that attic was pretty nice. Though it could use a bit of a new paint job." Courtney and Nila were coming back to the living room. Maude, Seren and a very intrigued Xanthe sat around the t.v. Static on the screen.

"Okay, let's see if you can do it again." said Maude.

"Hmm.." Xanthe waved her hand by the t.v. The static started to move, turning into shapes.

"You're doing it, Xanthe! I can see the shapes much better this time!" Seren was eyeing the television.

"Wow you picked it up quick, kid." Maude was amazed. "Think you can make a tree out of the static?"

"Pffft, I can do you one better." Xanthe concentrated on the static. The shapes turned into a few trees and the lines bent and turned into a house.

"No way, is that? Maude, that's the view of our house!" Seren looked at Xanthe. "That is sooo cool!"

Xanthe stopped and the static went bag to wavy, zig zaggy lines on the screen. She smiled proudly. "It is." she nodded. She looked at Maude "I never really thought about doing that before. Never came to my mind."

"Kid, you'll be amazed at what all you could do with your kind of powers. You just have to think outside the box." she tapped her temple.

Xanthe gave another nod. "Not a bad idea." she got up, a sly smile on her face. 

The other two got up. "Wow, you must've left a pretty good impression on her. She rarely ever smiles at people or talks to them." Seren said to Maude.

Xanthe turned off the t.v with the remote and placed it back on the table. She passed Nila, the smile still on her face. "That lady isn't half bad." she said to her."

"Oh! Seren. I almost forgot. I managed to get like one hundred eggs from this farm. Think we can put them all in your fridge until later? I have this reaaaally _eggs_ellant prank for tomorrow!

Seren laughed. "Nice pun. Yeah, sure, we should have enough room.

They went to the kitchen.

"What are you two up to now?" Nila asked.

Seren was placing the eggs in the fridge, moving the other items aside to fit more eggs in. "Just putting eggs in the fridge."

"I think that's too many eggs.."

"Yeah, they're not all going to fit." said Xanthe

Maude continued to pull the last few eggs out of her pearl. Eggs were rolling all around in the fridge. "No, they're all going to fit, watch!" Seren quickly put the last few eggs in the fridge and quickly shut the door, not paying attention to the sound of eggs cracking. "Man, I can not WAIT until we do this prank. And who knows, maybe we'll have some left over to make a huge omelette or a huge cake!" 

..

"Okay everyone! Food's ready! Everyone wash their hands!" they heard Taffy yell from the dinning room. "And can someone get Blanca please? She should be in her room."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner time!

Taffy placed the plate of spinach quiche in the middle of the table and sat down.

"So I got this rash, right?" Maude said as she tried scratching her back through her thick , orange sweater. "It itches like the DICKENS and's as STUBBORN as a ruby." she kept scratching.

"Grooooooss!" Seren laughed.

Maude started rolling her shoulders and scratching them, then her arms. "Powders? WON'T help. Ointment? WON'T work. "

Nila glanced at Courtney who was looking at Maude like she was on display. "Maybe just keeping quiet about it." Nila said to Maude.

She started scratching her neck. "I even tried this old gem cream. It smelled like tar, but it ain't make no never mind!" she looked at Taffy. "You're some kind of gem expert, scientist lady. What gives?" she scratched her face.

"Honestly, I have no idea, but I, I gotta look at that right away." she didn't quite mean it.

Maude reached for the quiche.

"No!!" Nila got up. Maude had already grabbed some.

"Oh~~~, don't worry, pumpkin." she cooed. "It ain't contagious."

Taffy stood up. "I'll go ahead and get the brisket." she walked out the dining room.

Maude started eating the spinach quiche and Nila sat back down, defeated.

Blanca had a disgusted look on her face. "How rude.. and disgusting."

"Well, there goes the quiche." Xanthe chuckled. "Eh, I'm here for the brisket and the greens anyway." 

"But I was really looking forward to them.." Nila said under her breath.

Courtney started laughing. "She's revolting." she pulled her phone out and took a picture of Maude.

Seren picked up a spinach quiche. "Ain't she though?" she smiled and took a bite out of the quiche.

"She really is.." Blanca mumbled, icely.

Taffy came back into the dining room carrying the brisket. "I glazed it with honey. Is that okay for you, Courtney?" she tried to play coy.

Courtney laughed, grabbing the plate. "Of course!" she pulled two slices down with her fork and put it on her plate. "And may I say, Mrs. Ishi, you've got that whole concerned mother, parental guardian down just right. Very convincing. Like the moms on t.v"

"Hm, you don't get out much, do you?"

Everyone started filling their plates with food, leaving out the spinach kiche, except for Seren who piled some more on her plate. 

Blanca didn't grab anything.

Maude grabbed three slices of the brisket with her bare hands, much to everyone's dismay. She started woofing them down.

"Wow. Maude has an appetite of a wild cougar." Seren stared at Maude in awe.

Maude swallowed. "Hopefully you mean the cat kind." she cackled.

Taffy cut her eye at Maude, then to the teens at the table. Thankfully, they didn't get the pun.

Maude started on the greens. She looked at everyone eating, then looked at Blanca, staring down at nothing in particular. In thought. 

"Hey, princess. What, the food isn't good enough for ya?" Maude joked.

Blanca looked up, noticing that Maude was speaking to her. She snapped out of her thought. "What? No.. I just don't eat."

"Mm, weird. So you just watch everyone else eat? Is this what you do every time the family has dinner?" 

Everyone looked at Blanca. Tension was building in the room. "Yes." she scowled. "I don't_ need_ to eat. I'm a gem. And quite frankly, I don't want to partake in any part of it."

"Princess, live a little, ey? Go ahead, shapeshift a gut and eat!" she waved a fork of greens around Blanca. 

Blanca leaned back, her scowl deepening. 

"Maude." Taffy warned. "Please refrain from doing that."

Maude backed up, redirected the fork to her mouth.

"We have already established this. Blanca doesn't eat. She doesn't need to, doesn't want to and we don't force her to."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha, I gotcha. Some gems don't eat. They think it's "disgusting"."

"Don't mock them." Taffy was staring at Maude and Blanca felt a smile coming on as she witnessed the interaction. The smile never came.

"Not mocking." she raised her hands. "It's just a bummer that some gems don't want to partake in such extravagant, well-seasoned food." she kissed up.

Taffy didn't feed into it, ignoring her. She was about to reach for the spinach quiche, then remembered, pulling her hand back. She grabbed some more greens instead. 

"So, are you usually this quiet too?"she asked Blanca.

Blanca was back at her calm demeaner until Maude spoke to her again. The scowl came back. "No. Actually, I'm usually speaking to them during dinner."

"Except for this one."

"Oh, why does it even matter to you!"

Maude shrugged. She stared at Blanca, scooping a bit of mash potatoes onto the fork without looking. She put the spoonful in her mouth and chewed. Blanca kept looking at her. Maude swallowed. "Eh, just wanted to get to know ya, is all. Seren said you could brighten up a bit." 

Blanca turned her glare at Seren..

"I was upset with you at the time! You know me! I say anything when I'm upset!" she held her hands up.

"Seren, you say anything, in general. Whether you're upset or not." said Xanthe.

"You really do need a better filter, Seren." Taffy narrowed her eyes.

"SO!" Nila tried to cut the tension. "What's up with that uh.. sports team that's so good!" 

"Which one?" challenged Xanthe.

"The... good one?" she repeated.

Xanthe laughed. "I mean, which sports team?"

"Uh..er.. rugby?" 

Xanthe gave her usual, smug look. "But it's still baseball season." 

Nila groaned. "I don't knooowww, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well, rugby or baseball, I don't play either one. I wouldn't DARE run out and play a sport that would get you so.. dirty " Courtney shivered.

Blanca turned to Courtney, who was sitting beside her. She gave her a knowing nod. "Yeah, that makes the two of us."

"What do you do for gym class?" asked Taffy.

"Oh Mommy and Daddy paid a bunch to get this exempt for four years card. It works for one class of your liking or _disliking_ I should say." she laughed. "And your good for the whole four years of High School!"

Xanthe made a look of shock. "How rich _are_ your parents?!"

"Very rich." she basked.

"That's real?!" Seren shouted. "How much does it cost?! I'm TIRED of World History!!" 

"I don't care if it was a dollar, I wouldn't get that card!" Taffy interrupted. "No offense to you, Courtney." 

"Oh, none taken, Mrs. Ishi."

Maude snorted. "Blanca, think you should get it for gym as well? You look like you've never lifted a finger in your lifetime." Maude laughed at her own joke. "Hey, maybe I should start addressing you as 'My Queen' oh, no wait! 'My Ruler'." she curtsied in the chair.

Blanca's expression dropped. Her mouth slightly open in shock. She stared at Maude._'My Ruler'.._

"Maude! I'm sorry, but I can't have you harassing anyone in MY home, in MY presence."

"I wasn't harassing, I was having a conversation."

Blanca was still staring in the direction of Maude. Her face blank.

Maude leaned right, then left. Blanca's gaze didn't change. Still looking forward. "Whoops. Think I broke her." she waved her hand in her face.

"Maude, just leave her alone." Taffy demanded.

"Nila... Is your sister alright?" Courtney whispered to her.

"Yeah, it's, um.. She's uh.." Nila couldn't think of the right words. "She's.. probably having another one of her memories?"

Courtney looked confused. "What do you mean?"

_Oh, right. Not everyone has these random, scary, happy, weird memories coming back to them like we have. Maybe I'll explain all that to Courtney later._ "I'll." she gave a worried look at Blanca. "I'll talk to you about that later."

"Mnngg. I hope it's not a bad one." Xanthe mumbled to Seren.

Seren nodded. A worried look on her face.

Everyone was silent and a few moments later, Blanca made a few rapid blinks, coming back from her thoughts. Then the sharp pain echoed through her whole head and she sucked in her breath, holding her head all the way down with her hands. She clenched her eyes tightly.

"WHA oh.. Need an aspirin, toots?" Maude placed a hand on her shoulder.

Blanca looked up, her eyes wide in shock. "DON'T touch me." she growled, swatting Maude's hand away. 

She winced, holding her head again. A few moments later, she looked around to see everyone staring at her. Nila, Taffy, Xanthe, Seren and Maude. Then she looked at Courtney's worried and _most likely judging_ expression.

She let go of her head and sat up, sliding her chair back with a hard screech. She got up, still looking at everyone. Then, without saying anything, she quickly made her way out the room.

"Awkwaaaaard.." Maude said, chuckling a bit.

"It's not funny, Maude. Blanca is dealing with things in her life, that you know nothing about." said Taffy.

"That wasn't a laughing-at-you kind of chuckle. More like a chuckle-to-break-some-of-the-tension, kind of chuckle. Don't worry. I've had migraines before TONS of times. I understand."

Taffy sighed. "It's more to it than that."

"Um.." Seren raised her hand. Everyone looked at her. "Can I be excuse?" she was already getting up before she got an answer. She turned to Maude, trying to keep her composure. "Excuse me, Madam. I won't be but a minute." she left the kitchen and was about to go upstairs when she saw some spiky white hair from the still opened living room window. Seren closed the window then opened the front door. Blanca was laying back on one of the porch chairs, with her eyes closed.

"Hi." Seren said softly. She closed the door behind her and sat next to her on the other porch chair. Seren let everything marinate for a while in silence. She looked over at Blanca. She still had her eyes closed. She looked tense.

She finally broke the silence. "So.. What's on your mind, Blanca?"

Blanca exhaled deeply and opened her eyes. "I've _tried_ to like Maude. Really, I have! But there's just something about her that I just don't trust!"

"Blancaaa..."

She finally turned to Seren. "I'm serious, Seren! And I think I know why I don't trust her." 

"Why?"

"She's actually a bad person! She makes you THINK that these pranks and hi jinks-"

Seren rolled her eyes. "Pranks and hi jinks again?" 

"Yes, pranks and hi jinks!" she snapped. "See, she taints you by playing these little, grimey games of hers of preying on people with these pranks and then, they're going to keep getting worse and worse and worse, until you forget your own discipline and you end up just doing whatEVER you want and you lose yourself to what's right and what's wrong and the rules around you won't even matter anymore!"

"And.. you got all that because of a few pranks we did?"

"Precisely! That's. Where. It starts, Seren. If you end up losing yourself to your own thoughts, I have Maude to blame, for luring you into her own life and I would have myself to blame for not protecting you more!"

"Blanca." Seren sat up and turned in her chair to face her.

"I.. can decide for myself you know?" she said softly. "You shouldn't blame Maude or yourself for the things that I do.. And" she looked down at her hands. "I think I know what this is really about. Or at least that there's more to it than that."

"Oh you do? And what's that?"

"Well..It was like I said a few days ago.. I think you're." _Scared? Paranoid? Frighten?_ "worried that the things that have happened in the past will repeat itself. Your memories, I mean. They come and they show you bits of things that have happened. The causes and effects of things that happened in the past. Maybe Maude reminds you of one of those past memories?

Blanca gave her a levelled stare. 

"I'm right, aren't I?" she nudged Blanca's elbow. 

"I think back on certain memories and I learn from them, just like other people do. What Maude is doing?" she shook her head. "It's just not _right._"

"Then, maybe I should go with her, to try and level her out."

"Seren YOU can't level her out. What are you talking about? You'll be the main one to fall under with her! What? Level her out? What? And go with her where?!"

"Here, check this out." she pulled out a pamphlet of Empire City.

Blanca skimmed the pamphlet full of apartments. "Seren. What is this?"

"Maude was telling me how she wanted to move from Beach City and live the fast pace life of Empire City instead."

"Ookay...? And good. For her." Blanca already knew what Seren was hinting at.

"And." Seren scratched the back of her head. "I was.. planning on moving in with her."

"I had a feeling you were going to say that." she gave a humorless chuckle, then stopped. She glared at her sister. "Why? Why would you move in with her?!"

"I already told you! Maybe I can level her-"

Blanca jumped out from her seat. "You've flipped your lid, Seren! You've lost it and it can't be found!" she yelled. "You're talking nonsense! And I won't stand to be apart of it!" she stormed off the porch and started marching up the sidewalk. "I'm going for a little walk to clear my head. YOU need to do the same." she hissed.

Seren sighed and put the pamphlet back into her pocket. She turned back around and laid back in the chair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeahhhhh, quite similar to Pearl, Blanca doesn't eat either.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maude passes away and Nila and Seren don't take it too lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!! Hopefully this chapter doesn't sound too morbid or dark with the details of Maude's body or of Nila or Seren's reaction. I did write write the words 'lifeless body' , like two, three times amongst other words in this chapter.

......

"Pretty please with sugar on top?" Maude was waving a piece of brisket in Courtney's face. She leaned back, shaking her head.

"Come on. I'm tired of chewing now. Just a few good chomps with them pearly whites of yours and I can swallow this baby down easy."

Courtney turned away, hiding her mouth with a napkin.

Nila got up. "Uh, Grandma?" she couldn't believe she said that. "You should _really_ try chewing your own food. What your doing isn't polite.. It isn't even sanitary." she grimaced.

Maude put the piece of meat back on the plate. "Ah, if Seren was here SHE would chew it up for me." she folded her arms.

"You have to excuse her, Courtney." said Taffy.

Courtney relaxed. "Oh no, it's perfectly fine." she reassured Taffy.

"Oh.. foo." Maude took a sharp breath and fell over on the table.

Everyone looked at her. She wasn't moving.

"Uh.. Taffy? Is grandma.. napping?" 

"I don't think so, Xanthe. Somehow, I really don't think so."

"Poor dear." Courtney whispered.

Nila looked at Maude. _No.. She's not really.. I'm not looking at a lifeless body._ She staggered back. She started breathing faster. Panicking. She took a few more steps back, still eyeing the lifeless body on the table. 

"Nila.. Are you okay?" Xanthe asked, getting up. She sounded far away to Nila.

Taffy got up with her. "She.. doesn't look so good. Nila?" Taffy started walking towards her.

She didn't answer them. Her attention focused on Maude. Too frightened to say anything. Hyperventilating. It reminded her of her memories. Gems being poofed and shattered. It was so surreal and scary. It felt like she was living in another one of those memories in real life.

Courtney got up slowly. "Is she having one of those memory thingies like the other one?"

"No, I don't think so." she told Courtney. She took a few more steps towards Nila. "Nila?"

She found her voice, taking a deep. A breath. She screamed. Tears started streaming from her eyes.

The three jumped at the sudden scream. The temperature dropped and her aura spread through Xanthe and Courtney. They dropped to their knees.

The whole house started to shake.

"What's happening?" Xanthe asked. 

Pipes bursted through the walls and the floors throughout the whole house.

Nila continued to wail. All of the pipes bursted open in the whole house and water started rushing in from all angles.

Seren ran back in the house and had to hold onto the wall for balance as the aura hit her. "What's.. going on?" she said through her teeth. 

"It's Maude!" Courtney yelled. The water already at her knees. 

Seren looked around to see Maude's body afloat. "What's wrong with you guys! Why aren't you saving her!" she swam towards Maude.

"Seren, Maude's gone! That's why Nila's like this!" Xanthe yelled. Some of the water got in her mouth and she spat some out.

"No!" Seren shouted in disbelief. She trudged through the slushy water. Nila's aura making it hard for her to move. She rolled Maude over. "Maude! Maude, answer me!" she shook her. "I know this is another one of your pranks! This one isn't funny!"

Taffy was clinging onto Nila, hugging her and trying to soothe her. Xanthe and Courtney could barely move, trying to tread the icy cold water.

The water and slush was now a few inches from the ceiling. Seren barely holding Maude's head above water. Taffy came back up for air. Took a few more breathes, then swam back down to Nila. She held on to her.

Xanthe thought of something, berating herself that she didn't think about it soon. She swam down to the dining room window and tried pulling it up. Nila's aura was overpowering and she couldn't lift it up. After numerous attempts, she swam over to Nila. Taffy came back down again from catching her breath. 

Above surface, Seren was crying over Maude's body and Courtney took in as much air as she could before the whole house was engulfed in water.

Courtney was trying to use her wind to blow some water away from her face, but the water was shifting back and forth roughly, overpowering her. 

More hugs, back rubs and soothing words and a long minute later, Nila started calming down.

Nila looked around. Ice and slush . Xanthe on her right side and Taffy on the other. She gasped. "I'm.. I'm so sorry." she tried to say under water. The temperature went back to normal, her aura vanishing.

Taffy couldn't talk, shaking her head instead.

"It's okay." said Xanthe gurgled underwater, holding onto her shoulder. She let go and swam back to the window. Taffy stayed by Nila's side.

Xanthe opened the window and the water started spilling out into the yard and down the sidewalk and the street.

Taffy and Courtney immediately gasped for air once the water went down far enough.

Seren drifted down gently with the water, still holding onto Maude's hand.

Nila took another glance at Maude again and quickly looked away, shutting her eyes. Xanthe trudged back over and started to rub her back.

Taffy walked over to Seren and crouched down.

Tears were streaming down Seren's face. "It's all my fault!"

She wrapped her arms around Seren. "No, Seren, Maude.. Well it was just her time to go."

"But maybe if I had been here a few minutes ago, I could've saved her! But no! I was outside with Blanca who hated her!"

"Things happen for a reason, Seren." she hugged her tighter. "And none of us knew that was going to happen. Maude was talking to us one minute, then suddenly.." she didn't finish the sentence.

Seren leaned into Taffy, crying.

All Courtney could do was watch the scene unfold in front of her. She watched Nila and Xanthe and Taffy and Seren as the two pairs hung on to each other.

.....

Blanca had came back to a near destroyed house. Nila told her everything that happened as she she and Blanca rid everything in the house of water, using their water manipulation to pull the water from everything, and whooshing the water out the window.

Taffy was still trying to get in touch with Sterling to tell them what happened and to give him the address of the hotel they would be staying in for at least a week or two.

Seren was alone in her room, having been there since the ambulance pulled off a half an hour ago.

"Do you think Seren's going to be okay? Blanca asked.

"I hope so. She's never had to go through anything like this."

"And what about you? Seemed like you were effected by it too."

Nila buried her face in her hands sighing. She lifted her head back up. "I can't BELIEVE I freaked out like that! Uhg, Blanca, it was embarrassing! And RIGHT in front of Courtney! I ruined the house, I used my aura on my sisters and Courtney !" She gave another sighed. "It was horrible!"

....

"It was spectacular!" Courtney shouted over the phone."Her grandma was JUST how I pictured her. I touched a real live vacuum, I ate briscut with honey, I got to witness MORE of Nila's extreme, fatal and extremely scary powers! And I even got to use my 'sad-for-you face. You know the one. It was SO eventful-." she whispered. 

Miranda didn't care about the dinner arrangement. "Did you take any photos or not?"

"Oh! Yeah, I totally did. I'll send them to you." Courtney sent all of the pictures to Miranda's phone.

There was laughter on the other end. "HOW did I know about the seashells? HOW did I know?!" 

.....

With everything in the house water free and with everyone packed up, Taffy and everyone else was getting ready to get in the van. 

Blanca knocked on Seren's door. "Seren?" There was no answer. She waited before knocking on the door again. "Seren, are you okay? Can I come in?" Blanca waited.

There was the sound of light creaking as someone walked towards the door. Seren waited a bit before opening the door just a bit. She walked back without saying anything and sat back down on the bed, one leg dangling off the bed and the other bent as she laid her arm across it to rest her head on.

Blanca opened the door a bit more and walked in. "Hi." she said.

"Hi.." Seren wasn't looking at her.

She sat on the far end of the bed. "How are you holding up?

"Holding." she said plainly.

Blanca sighed. "I know you may not believe me, Seren, but I really am sorry about everything."

"Yeah.. I believe you."

There was silence for a bit. Seren slid her other leg back down, staring into her lap. "I still can't believe she's gone. I really did see her as a genuine friend."

"Yeah, you two got pretty close within such a quick amount of time. You two were like two peas in a pod."

Seren looked up. A soft expression on her face. "That's what Maude said."

Blanca nodded. "Then I guess she could read people very well." Blanca gave her a very small smile.

Seren wiped a tear from her eye. "You really think so?" 

"Mmmm, more or less.. Though I don't want to admit it, I actually _did_ kind of needed an aspirin that she suggested."

Seren found that funny, giving a little chuckle. She scratched her head. "Yeah, about that.. How are _YOU_ feeling?" 

Blanca gave a half a shrug. "As fine as I'll ever be." 

Seren gave her a slight worried expression.

"Don't worry. I'm _fine,_ Seren. "Nothing that I haven't seen already." 

Seren's expression fell even more. "Okay.." she changed the subject. "So, is Nila feeling any better?"

"She's still a bit shaken up, but she's doing much better."

Seren managed a tired smile. "That's good to hear. I was worried about her."

"She was worried about you too. If not even more."

"Knock, knock." Xanthe said as she knocked on the opened door. They looked up to see Xanthe by the doorway. "Hey."

"Hey." They said back to her. 

"Don't mean to break this up, but.. we're ready to leave. Taffy and Nila are already in the van."

"Oh, okay." said Seren. She and Blanca got up. Blanca left out first as Seren grabbed her suitcase. "Feeling any better?"

Seren gave a half shrug.

Xanthe looked at a jar in Seren's hand. Something that Maude had given her. "It's pretty..erhm.. _interesting_ that she let you have her gallstone." 

"Yeah." Seren gave a sad smile. "Only Maude."

They walked down the stairs together and Xanthe caught a glimpse of the water in the street, getting a small idea. "Hey, Seren. You wanna throw some water balloons off the hotel roof? " a mischievous smile on her face.

Seren thought about it. A genuine smile coming across her face. "You know, I think it's probably the way Maude would've wanted it."

Xanthe went back to her room to get some balloons and they left the house, Xanthe double checking the locks on the door. They got in the van. 

"Okay. Looks like the gang's all here." Taffy turned the car on, driving out the parking lot and onto the small road.

"Darn. I left my snacks right on top of the dresser." Nila grumbled. 

"Don't worry about it. We'll just stop at a gas station or a convenient store before we get to the hotel." said Taffy, turning into the main street.

"Wait! I think I still have some snacks in my backpack from school earlier." Seren grabbed her bag from the floor. She unzipped it to see that everything inside of the bag was still wet. Her books, her school supplies.. her snacks.. and a bagel that she got from the school breakfast line. "On a second thought.. They're all watered down." she lifted up a sandwich baggy, water dripping from it. "Anybody want a wet bagel?" she joked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for the next episode.  
Paying homage to:  
Steven Universe season 1 episode 4: Together Breakfast  
Hey Arnold season 1 episode 1b: Eugene's bike
> 
> Episode 4: Both accidentally destroying her bike and trying to win the friendship of the girl she met on the first day of school, Seren tries to give her the best day ever, with Nila, Xanthe and Blanca's help.

**Author's Note:**

> Got this idea from reading Reverberations by ThatDastardlyCerberus and Little Stars by Practically-pearlperfect (Madam_Violet) :) :)


End file.
